Now or Never
by Silver-Squirrel
Summary: Gin Momochi was the kind of person who could find a flaw in a diamond and wouldn't hesitate to point it out. It seemed that the only people she could have a decent converstation with were the ones she wasn't supposed to talk to. Gaara/OC.
1. Stop and Stare

Don't worry, I hate myself for doing this. I'm writing another story which will replace the one that I deleted just now because I like this character better… she can be really mean to people and it won't seem OC or anything… SMILES! Oh and I got Harry Potter Lego on the PS3 so I'm rocking life. LOL it took me and three other people three and a half hours to finish the first year. Scabbers the rat is basically useless and Hermione couldn't ride a broomstick if her life depended on it. This story's starting at the beginning of the Chunin Exams arc.

_YYY_

FIRST; A little Character info:  
My name is Gin. It means silvery. The people of my village named me that because of my silver hair, which is actually snow white now. I wear it in a high ponytail and it still brushes my ankles. I'm a little taller than Naruto, and I never knew my parents. The villagers said that I never had any, and I just popped up one day out of nowhere. My eyes are amber and my skin's pretty pale. Zabuza and Haku picked me up when I was six because of my kekkei genkai, diamond release, and since I don't have a last name Zabuza, for the sake of convenience, allowed me to use his. When Team 7 took Zabuza and Haku down, they took me with them the Leaf village. I wear a short snake-skin patterned vest over a white short sleeved top, long black trousers and regular ninja sandals. My protective headband is around my waist.

Ahh… yeah, I'm gonna start the story now, so… :D

_Thinking_

"Talking"

**Whatever I think needs to be in bold.**

_YYY_

I sat on a fence and glared at the ground. _It's so dry here, there's almost no rain or mist or… anything water based at all! Except trees… This is what hell is like, isn't it? _I thought despairingly. Truly the universe hates me. Then, wrenching me from my sulking, Naruto and some little brat came round the corner being chased by Sakura (I'd bet any money that someone bad-mouthed Sasuke…). The little kid ran head first into a tall boy clothed in black wearing kabuki paint and a strangely shaped bandaged thing on his back. Standing slightly behind him was a girl with a purple dress and blonde hair that was pulled back into four neat pigtails. They had the symbol for the Hidden Sand Village on their headbands. _And that place is on a whole other level than hell_. Neither of the pair looked very impressed.

"Do you need somethin'?" the boy with the kabuki paint asked. He grabbed the boy up by his collar. Personally, I thought he was being too easy on the kid. Me doing that to Zabuza Sensei would have resulted in me face-planting the dirt 20 meters away.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto called in concern. _Wow, no-one's noticed me yet? Either I'm better than I thought, or they're imbeciles. _

"So, does this hurt punk?" The kabuki paint boy asked as he tightened his grip. Konohamaru squeaked in discomfort.

"Put him down, Kankuro, or you know you'll pay for it later," the blonde girl warned. She was looking around as though looking for an enemy. _I should be concerned about that._

"Hey, I'm sorry, the whole thing was my fault," Sakura said, trying to weasel out of the situation.

"You better take your hands off him right now!" Naruto yelled threateningly. Kankuro smirked.

"We got a few minutes before he gets here, lets mess with these punks, huh?" he said. Konohamaru continued to squeak.

"Let go of me, you jerk!" he said while kicking Kankuro weakly in the stomach.

"You're feisty, but not for long," the hooded boy said, almost in a sing-song type way. Naruto growled angrily and clenched his fists.

"Put him down!" He demanded, running in fight mode towards Kankuro. Kankuro finally opened his eyes fully, and his fingers twitched a little, but not out of irritation. Naruto's eyes widened and he fell backwards. "What the- What was that!"

"You're a leaf genin too? Looks like _your_ village is full of wimps!" Kankuro antagonized. Konohamaru's friends called his name. Konohamaru was lifted higher.

"Cut it out, it hurts!" he, well, I guess he almost _begged_. Naruto jumped up.

"That's it, drop him now or I take you apart, you got that, fool?" the blonde threatened. Sakura strangled him.

"You're the fool! Making threats isn't going to help, Naruto!" She told him. Kankuro smiled.

"You're annoying. All of you. I don't like runts or any other scrawny weaklings, so when a wimp like this starts shooting off his mouth, I just wanna break him in half," he said menacingly. I couldn't really help but agree… I'm a terrible person. The blonde girl shut her eyes and looked away.

"Uh, fine, I'm not involved in any of this okay," she said exasperatedly.

"First, I'll take care of this little squirt, then I'll waste the other one!" Kankuro said brightly. He pulled back his fist and was about to hit the brat he was holding when a rock flew out of nowhere and hit him in the arm, causing him to drop the kid. Blood flew and he clasped his injured limb with a gasp. I looked up and frowned. Sasuke sat in the tree across from me bouncing a pebble in his hand.

"You're a long way from home and you're way out of your league," he said bluntly. Sakura went into automatic fan-girl mode, the blond sand girl blushed a little and I nearly hurled. Konohamaru ran back to Naruto.

"Oh great another wimp to tick me off," Kankuro muttered and I smirked. Sasuke crushed the rock in his hand.

"Get lost," he ordered. At this point even Udon was fan-girling to some extent.

"How come you're not cool like that?" Konohamaru asked Naruto.

"Huh, what do you mean? I could have taken that guy out in two seconds flat," Naruto insisted.

"Hey punk, get down here. You're the kind of pesky little snot I hate the most, all attitude and _nothing_ to back it up," Kankuro said, then he pulled the bandaged thing of his back and set it beside him.

"What? Are you gonna use the Crow, for this?" the blonde girl asked, obviously surprised.

"Kankuro, back off," a cold voice said. I nearly gave myself whiplash looking up to see who it was. A boy about my age with crimson red hair and the kanji for love tattooed on his forehead was upside down on the other side of the tree. He had a huge gourd on his back and scary look about him. "You're an embarrassment to our village." Everyone, including myself, was shocked.

"Uh, hey Gaara," Kankuro said uneasily.

"Have you forgotten the reason we came all the way here?" Gaara asked as though talking to a child.

"I know, I- I mean they challenged us, they started the whole thing, really, see, here's what happened-"

"Shut up; Or I'll kill you."

"Uh, right, I was totally out of line, I'm sorry, Gaara, I was totally out of line," Kankuro apologized. Gaara turned to Sasuke.

"I'm sorry, for any trouble he caused," he said. Gaara turned into sand and re-appeared on the ground. "Let's go, we didn't come here to play games," he said to his team-mates.

"A-alright, sure, I get it," Kankuro said. Sakura stepped forward not a moment later, no doubt attempting to play hero.

"Hold on; Hey!" she called. The retreating sand team stopped and the blonde girl said 'what'.

"I can tell from your headband, that you come from the Village Hidden in the Sand. Of course the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind are allies, but no shinobi can enter another's village without permission, so state your purpose and it better be good," the pinkette said triumphantly. The sand ninja turned around.

"Really, have you guys been living under a rock or what? You don't know what's going on, do you. We _have _permission. Of course, you're correct, we are Hidden Sand genin, our home is the Land of the Wind. And we're here for the Chunin Exams, get the picture?" the blonde girl said.

"The Chunin Exams, what's that?" Naruto asked, clueless. "Well I've never heard of any Chunin Exams, believe it." Believe it, hey? Good Lord that phrase makes me want to punch something.

"Naruto, every time you say 'believe it' a rabbit dies," I said shortly, making my presence known. And if I actually cared what they thought of me, I might have been a little hurt that they didn't notice me before.

"AAAGGHH! GIN! When did you get there?" Naruto yelled while flinching away from me. Apparently I still scare him. I glared at him.

"I've been here the _whole time_, you noob! Thousands of years of evolution and _this _is where you've arrived? Truly, I'm ashamed," I said indignantly.

"You've been there the whole time and you didn't help us?" the fox-like child asked angrily. I didn't bother to answer him, and the blonde sand nin started talking again.

"I believe it alright, that you're totally clueless," she said. _Wow, we think the same! Just kidding. _

"Hey boss, those are the exams every genin's got to take to become a full on Chunin," Konohamaru explained. Naruto became irrationally excited by this.

"Oh, well why didn't you so? I am so there!" he exclaimed. The sand team turned to leave, but Sasuke jumped from the tree and stopped them.

"Hey, you, identify yourself!" he ordered. The blonde sand girl turned around and blushed a little.

"You mean me?" she asked happily.

"No, him, the guy with the gourd on his back," Sasuke said. _Burn_.

"My name is Gaara of the Desert. I'm curious about you too, who are you?" Gaara said, turning around to face the Uchiha.

"I am Sasuke Uchiha," he said with a smirk.

"Hi there! I bet you're dying to know my name, right?" Naruto said excitedly.

"I couldn't care less," was Gaara's flat reply.

"Haven't you heard, Naruto? Our Sasuke's the best thing since toilet paper," I quipped, snickering. Before I knew it a kunai was flying at my face. I barely had time to harden my skin before it hit me in the eye. It bounded off harmlessly but I still didn't like it.

"Sasuke, you noob! You can't just throw kunai at people like that!" I yelled angrily.

"Shut up, Gin," Sasuke said bluntly. He didn't throw anything else at me, which was alright.

"and who are you?" Gaara asked. I couldn't tell if he was genuinely curious or if he was just asking… for fun or whatever. **(A/N: I just got a box of Pocky and they were all melted together. It was super crap.)** I answered anyway.

"My name's Gin Momochi, thank you for asking," I said. The sand genin turned and left, leaving only team 7, the kids and me. I left before anyone could say anything. I found a small bridge and sat on the hand railings overlooking the water below. I wasn't glaring at anything anymore. I held my hand over the water and a small diamond dripped from one of my fingertips, making a splash and a ripple in the water. I stared idly at the pattern on the water, wondering how so small a thing could, in the end, make such a large ripple. I wondered if I was a splash or a ripple. Probably a ripple, and Haku would have been the splash. He affected Team 7, Zabuza Sensei and I after all, and the ways we lived (or died).

"Hello Gin," said a cheery voice behind me. I jumped a bit and looked behind me. I huffed and re-instated my unhappy expression.

"What do you want, Kakashi?," I asked the silver haired Jonin.

"Still holding that grudge?" he asked, still sounding irrationally happily.

"Still asking stupid questions?"

"So, the Chunin Exams are coming up and the Hokage was wondering if you'd like to participate in them!" Kakashi explained.

"I'm going to slaughter you if you don't stop sounding so happy," I threatened.

"I'm waiting," he said. I could practically see his grin through his mask.

"I can't, I don't have a team and no one wants me anyway," I snapped.

"I'll take that as a yes. See you, Gin," the jonin said with a grin. I turned my hand into a diamond spike and lunged at him, but he vanished in a puff of smoke. I cursed under my breath as my hand returned to normal. I wondered what would happen if I were to pitch myself off the bridge, but refrained from doing so. _What's the point. I don't have a village, or a team, or a sensei, or family, or… or friends… I don't have anything._

"I'll bother with that later," I told myself. I needed to improve my taijutsu, and the only one who could teach my anything beyond what I already knew was Might Guy. So I set off to find him.

-YYY- fast forward.

"Please, Guy Sensei! I _need_ someone to teach me more taijutsu and you're the most accomplished taijutsu master in all the Hidden Leaf Village!" I said.

"I'm sorry, Gin, but I have my own team to worry about. With the exams coming up I need to train with them as much as I can. Besides, my eternal rival, Kakashi, told me that you're already accomplished in taijutsu. He even went so far as to say that you possessed 'the ultimate form of taijutsu'." Guy Sensei said. "There's nothing I can do for you."

I glared at him. I got angrier by the second and it showed on my face. I knew what he was doing.

"That's a lie! I can see right through you! You're just like the rest of them! All you know is all you see! You think I'm some kind of monster because I trained with 'The Demon of the Hidden Mist'! You judge me before you even get to know me! Everyone here does it but no-one has the courage to admit it! You just pretend to be nice but it doesn't take a genius to see through that pitiful façade! I don't know what you're trying to accomplish with it but I hate you for it!" I yelled. I span immediately on my heels and ran away with tears streaming down my face, solidifying into tiny diamonds in mid-air. I was so angry at them! I can't recall ever being fuller of animosity and resentment than that moment. I didn't even know where I was going, I just ran as far away as I could. After that I just hugged my knees to my chest and cried. I didn't want everyone to hate me. I hadn't meant to be so different, but I was being despised for it anways. Even Naruto did it, and I had thought that if anybody understood, _he_ would. But apparently _Sa-ku-ra_ didn't like me either, so _he_ wouldn't come near me to try and get on her good side. I heard a twig crack somewhere nearby, so I pulled my hair out of its ponytail and let it fall around me like a blanket, and it pooled on the ground like white water. It was childish but I didn't care.

"Gin?" a voice in front of me questioned in concern. It was Kakashi. My brow furrowed in anger. Who was _he_ to come out here and see me like this? Who was _he _to sound so concerned?

"You really do hate us, don't you?" he asked sadly. I jerked my head away from his direction, but probably all he could see was a blanket of white randomly turning to the right.

"Is it because of Haku and Zabuza?"

I shook my head. From behind my hair I said, "You don't know what it's like."

"Huh?"

"I said, you don't know what it's like! I don't have _anything_ here, no matter how you look at it. I don't have anything _anywhere_. And I have a hope or a dream, you Leaf ninja snatch it away! I don't understand. Even as a kid I had something, even if it was just a homeless kid's dream of something better…"

I stiffened and peeked up through my hair in shock. Kakashi Hatake had just pulled me into a hug. My stubbornness didn't let me return the hug, but being as weak willed as I was I allowed myself to lean into it. I couldn't remember when I had last received a hug.

Yeah to this chapter might have seemed to 'rush' a little, but I like to move… QUICKLY! Tis' the way of the ninja. So er, this is like 9 pages long and I haven't got a freaking clue when I'm ever going to update again since I'm in senior school now and I'll doubtlessly have shitloads of homework before the month is out. ME HOPE YOU LIKE :D


	2. Ninjas

**Thank you to Angelfang for reviewing :)**

**Thank you everyone else who read :)**

**The name of the story itself is actually a line from the song It's My Life by Bon Jovi and I'm naming the chapters after songs and so far there's been****:  
Chapter 1- Stop and Stare by OneRepublic  
Chapter 2- Ninjas by The Midnight Beast**

**I really am hoping to actually update this story every once in a while. But a good friend of mine has been in hospital a lot recently with diabetes… ****Lovin' you Emma 3. **

**Also this chapter is a lot shorter than I'd like it to be because it's the first test and I really wanna keep the tests separate. Otherwise it'll just be like when all my food's running together on my dinner plate. And I hate that. I truly, truly hate that.**

"Regular speaking"

_Thinking/ sarcasm/exaggerated words_ (Sorry, I'm patronizing you guys.)

**Whatever I think needs to be bold.**

_Whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, it's the only time we've got. ~Art Buchwald_

I yawned and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, making those strange, half asleep mumbling noises. I rolled out of bed and landed with a 'thump' on the hard-wood floor. How the hell I ended up in bed I don't know, but I think it might have been Kakashi. Dammit I must have fallen asleep or something. _Oh yeah the Chunin Exams start today._ I thought to myself. And then I thought: _CRAP! CHUNIN EXAMS START TODAY!_ I didn't think this because I was scared or anything, just because sometimes I really hate having to do work. Okay maybe I was a '_little_' nervous. I groggily changed into a fresh pair of clothes and brushed my hair, not bothering to tie it back just yet. I looked in the cupboards and couldn't find anything worth eating. _Mmmh, disappointment for breakfast again._ I actually really don't like to skip breakfast; it's the most important meal of the day. I dragged myself out of my apartment (which is hell cold in the mornings, might I add) and began the long walk to the exams building. Actually I had totally forgotten where I was going. What can I say; no one showed me where it was. Suddenly I accidentally bumped into someone.

"I'm sorry," I said, apologizing on instinct. I looked up and rubbed more sleep from my eyes. It was the blonde sand girl from yesterday. "I'm sorry," I said again, but a little quieter.

"That's okay," she said. She seemed a little fascinated by my hair, which was dragging along the ground and had gone a little brown at the end. I dropped my head and sighed. I picked my hair up by the middle and batted the dust away before tying it up in its usual high ponytail. I looked behind her and noticed her brothers standing there. Kankuro seemed to be in good spirits and Gaara looked pretty blank.

"Umm, this is gonna sound really dumb, but could you guys show me to the exams building, please?" I asked bashfully, rubbing the back of my neck.

"But don't you live here?" Kankuro asked incredulously. I laughed nervously.

"Uh, yeah, but I've only been here a month, and I wasn't really s'posed to go anywhere without supervision and all," I explained.

"Err, okay then. My name's Temari, by the way," Temari said with a friendly smile.

"That's a nice name," I said absently. It was something that Haku used to say. "Sorry, I'm still pretty tired." Temari and Kankuro laughed.

"You know, you're pretty cool for a Leaf brat," Kankuro commented. I smiled cheerfully at him.

"Gee, my week is complete. But I'm not actually a Leaf brat. I still maintain that I am from the Mist," I said, pointing at the headband on my waist, which had the four wavy lines of the Village Hidden in the Mist engraved into it.

"So how'd you wind up here?" he asked.

"Uh, it's sort of hard… I'll tell you later, maybe," I said evasively, twisting a piece of my hair nervously around my fingers. "Oh look, seems like we're here," I said, changing the topic and stopping outside a large building. "How did _you_ guys know where you were going?"

"Our sensei showed us," Temari said as though pointing out the obvious. We entered the building, ignored the genjutsu and continued on to the waiting room.

"Thanks guys, that would have been a hella lot harder on my own," I said with thumbs-up and a smile. At that point I realised that a group of Hidden Mist ninja were glaring in my direction. I didn't know who they were, but they made me uncomfortable. They seemed to know me.

"Who are those guys?" Kankuro asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen them before… I think," I replied uncertainly. Next thing you know, Naruto's in the room, screwing everything up. Not really, but he did cause a 'ruckus', so to speak. His friends and he somehow stirred up the team from the Village Hidden in the Sound. Everyone took a number, as instructed, and I went to my designated seat. Ibiki Sensei announced the rules and we turned over out tests. Despite the instructions, my first thought was _'To hell with it, I'm cheating._' Mostly because if didn't get all 10 questions correct I wouldn't be allowed to continue with the Chunin Exams. This was to try and make things fairer, since I didn't have a team to possibly drag me down. Then I realized that there was a flaw in the system. Ibiki Sensei didn't specifically say that we _couldn't_ cheat, just that we couldn't get _caught_ at it. God bless me and my pessimism. All I had to do now was figure out _how_ I would go about this 'cheating' business.

15 minutes passed before an idea crossed my mind.

A brilliant, brilliant idea that was going to rely almost solely on luck and a human's natural desire for precious things.

I forced a crocodile tear from one of my eyes, and as I predicted, it turned into a diamond in mid-air. I caught it before it clattered noisily on the desk and flicked it inconspicuously over to an older guy who was hastily writing down answers. My left eye hardened into solid diamond and I closed it to concentrate better. Instead of the regular darkness that generally came with shutting one's left eye, the image of a leaf genin gingerly picking up my tear-diamond and inspecting it thoroughly played in my eye. I turned my gaze through the diamond to the boy's test paper and hurriedly wrote down what he had written so far. He had only completed up to question five, but he seemed to know what he was doing. In fact, it was almost worrying, how well he seemed to know the answers.

He set the diamond down, right on top of his test sheet, and began writing out more answers. I imitated him with little trouble, but my left eye was beginning to feel painful and strained from looking through the odd angles of the diamond for too long. As soon as all nine questions on the sheet were complete I cut off the connection and rubbed my eye in relief. Looking at the clock I discovered that there was 15 minutes left before the final question was going to be given out. So I occupied myself with doodling. Soon there was a small, detailed sketch of Zabuza's Decapitating Carving Knife and my beanie that had ear flaps. An odd assortment of pictures, but hey, it took up 15 minutes.

"Alright!" Ibiki Sensei said loudly, making me jump a little and the sudden loud noise. "Listen up. Here's the tenth and final question." I held my pencil a little tighter and bit my lip lightly.

"But, before I give you the question, there are some more rules that you need to be aware of."

His speech was interrupted by Kankuro re-entering the room.

"Ah, made it just in time. I hope you found your trip to the bathroom _enlightening_," Ibiki said. "Well, take your seat." Ibiki stepped forward and continued.

"These rules are unique to question ten. Listen carefully, and try not to let them _frighten _you," the proctor said menacingly. I concentrated very hard on what Zabuza told me about not letting people get into my mind like this, and surprisingly it helped. But I could already see people cracking around me.

"Very well then, rule number one: Each of you is free to choose _not_ to be given the final question; it's _your _decision."

"Woah, so what's the catch? Let's say we don't wanna do it, what happens then?" Temari called suspiciously.

"If you choose not to take the tenth question, regardless of your answers to the other nine, you'll get a zero. In other words you fail, and that means of course both your team-mates fail as well," Ibiki said with an evil smile.

"Of _course_ we'll do it then!" Some people said among the gasps and whispers that this statement stirred. I had my doubts about them, he hadn't told us the rest of the rules yet.

"Not so fast, you didn't let me finish. If you do accept the question and answer it incorrectly, you will not only fail- **you will be barred from taking the Chunin Exams ever again!**" He said forcefully.

That's what sealed it for me, really. I had nothing to lose by staying a genin forever, but I wouldn't let people say I was too cowardly to try and become a Chunin. I'd promised Haku that I'd try…

"Hey that's bull, man! That's ridiculous! What kind of bogus rule is that? There's lots of people here who've taken the test before!" Kiba stood up and yelled, Akamaru barking in agreement at the end. The scarred proctor laughed.

"I guess you're just… unlucky. I wasn't making the rules before, but I am now," He said evilly. "But if you don't wanna take it, you don't have to. If you're not feeling confident then by all means, skip it, you can come back and try again next year," Ibiki Sensei ended with another sadistic laugh.

"Now then, if you're ready, the tenth and final question. Those who don't wanna take it raise your hand. Your number will be recorded and then you're free to go." He said. At first nobody moved, but I could see people becoming even more worried by the second. It wasn't too long before the first person chickened out. Then a second, person, and then a third person. Pretty soon a small crowd was shuffling out the doorway. I, personally, was surprised that Naruto hadn't given up yet. But I couldn't be too sure, his stubbornness and strong-will might actually get him through. Now that I'd thought about it, the second option seemed far more likely.

Again, the orange-clad blonde surprised me when he began to shakily raise his hand. Then I glared at him. I don't like being wrong. The world seemed to turn the right way again when Naruto slammed his hand back down.

"Don't underestimate me, I don't quit and I don't run! You can act tough all you want, but you guys aren't gonna scare me off!" _He almost just did, you noob._ "I don't care if I do get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life, I'll still be Hokage someday!" Naruto yelled.

"This decision is one that could change your life. If for any reason you would rather quit, now's your last chance," Ibiki warned.

Naruto's little stunt seemed to have given the remaining genin some courage, however, and nobody else pulled out. The proctor looked to the sentinel, who nodded to each other in confirmation.

"Well then, I admire your determination if nothing else. For those of you remaining there's only one thing left to do, and that's for me to tell you… that you've all passed the first exam!"

"Crap!" I said, hitting my pencil off the desk in annoyance. So everything else was all for nothing? Bleeeehh. Sakura stood up and opposed this also. Ibiki said that there never really was a written tenth question, and that our decision to stay had answered it. Temari angrily asked what the point of the other questions were and the scarred proctor explained it easily. I think we fully understood the value of the test when he took off his bandana. It was brutal.

The happy silence was broken by Naruto's partying, would you believe?

Then a giant ball of cloth flew through the window. I kid you not. Two corners soon became pinned to the roof by kunai and a purple-haired lady unfurled herself from inside the cloth, which was actually more of a banner now than anything.

"Heads up boys and girls, this is no time to be celebrating! I'll be you're next proctor, Anko Mitarashi. You ready for the second test? Good! Then let's go, follow me!" Anko said energetically. There was an awkward silence. Ibiki stepped out from behind the banner.

"You're early. Again," he said in a deadpan tone. They conversed a little, but nothing of and importance was really said except for the fact that more than half of us would be gone by the end of the second test. Yep, nothing important.

"Alright, you maggots have had it easy _so_ far, but, things are gonna be different starting first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me. Dismissed," Anko said, cooing the last word very creepily, in my opinion.

**I can beat-box: *Clears throat* uh… that's it. **

**Pleaze review ^.^ Else I'll be sad **


	3. Let The Bodies Hit The Floor

**Thanks once again to Angelfang, who reviewed for a second time and ALSO thanks to ****KITTY LOVES HIDAN AND KAKUZU**** and ****glitterthorn**** (you're review made me laugh…) who reviewed as well despite my less-than-awesome- standard of writing skills.**

**Thankies (that's a pretty terrible word) to everyone else who read, favourited and all that stuff**

**Chapter 3- Let The Bodies Hit The Floor by Drowning Pools.**

**If you wanna suggest a song for the next chapter name just put it in a review**

**P.s I pulled an all-nighter last night and I didn't even feel tired in the morning! In fact… it's like 11 pm and I still don't feel tired… but apparently I am tired because if it weren't for spell check you'd be reading sentences like this:**

'**Once upoin a tiem a cey sat on a magic rug and ti flew to Hogawrts, just got ehe hell og ti.'**

**That is literally my writing right now without me backspacing or correcting myself or letting spell-check do stuff. The sentence was s'posed to say:**

'**Once upon a time there was a cat that sat on a magic rug and flew to Hogwarts, just for the hell of it.'**

"Talking"

_Thinking/exaggeration/sarcasm_

**Whatever I think needs to be in bold.**

-YYY-

_I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. ~Pablo Picasso_

-YYY-

I sat on the ground next to a standing Temari. The genin had assembled outside the 'Forest of Death' as Anko had called it, and to tell you the truth it didn't really look like rainbows and unicorns either. Kankuro was trying to avoid looking at the forest, since it was creeping everyone else out.

"It sure is a nice day," He said observantly. Naturally my mind was quick to find a way to crush this happy image.

"It reminds me of those days where child molesting axe murderers steal small children from picnics," I said morbidly.

"… I don't think I can be friends with you anymore."

I grinned widely and I _swear_ I saw the corner of Gaara's lips pull upwards. Apparently Temari saw this too because she looked down at me wide-eyed, but she didn't push her luck by saying anything.

Anko explained about the consent forms, the scrolls and the rules and I listened closely. _There doesn't look like any way to cheat in this one_, I thought to myself.

"Ohh, and I have one more word of advice, **just don't die**!" She said.

"Well there goes _my _Sunday plans," I said disappointedly. Temari hit me on the back of the head.

Once I completed my consent form, I exchanged it for a heaven scroll. I ran my hand over it, covering it diamond and melting it between my shoulder blades where my hair would cover it. It was pretty uncomfortable but it worked.

"Hey kid," Anko Sensei called. "Are you sure you wanna do this? You'll just be targeted. There's still time to pull out," she offered. I looked at her calculatingly before responding.

"It almost cuts me how many of you Leaf ninja doubt my ability Don't you know the saying? You'll miss 100% of the shots you don't take!."

Anko smiled.

I picked gate 23. The gate on my left had nobody in front of it and the gate on my right was occupied by a team from the Waterfall Village. _I'll go after them first._ There's no way I was staying in that creepy Forest of Death overnight if I could help it. As soon as the gate was unlocked I was off. About 100 meters in I stopped and checked what was in my kunai holster.

_Oh. Crap._

Was all that could cross my mind.

_xo-Flashback Of Last night-xo_

"_Hmm… I should stock up on weapons for tomorrow, just in case… but I'm so tired…" I mumbled to myself. I dragged myself around the apartment looking for stray shuriken and kunai. Hmm… one kunai, two kunai… oh look, here's another three, and there's seven shuriken already in my holster… I yawned heavily and my eyesight stared to get blurry. I'll need my beanie, I case it gets cold… and this Pocky, in case I get hungry… and this spoon… to eat the pocky… with… and then I fell asleep._

_Xo-Flashback Over-xo_

"ARGH!" I yelled in frustration, hitting myself in the head. How could I be so stupid? You don't even _need_ a spoon to eat damned POCKY! Deciding to make the most of what I had, I put my beanie on. "Well, I only need for my jutsu, at least. If anything else happens I can just make more," I reasoned with myself. Plus I usually liked to use senbon, which I had plenty of in pockets and they were easy to make.

I shivered involuntarily when people started screaming. It sounded like they were in pain…

It didn't take me long to track down the Waterfall team. I made a hand seal with one hand and raised the other, effectively casting the Hidden Mist Jutsu. Zabuza used to praise me on how well I could do it in collaboration with the Silent Killing Technique at such a young age, but it was nowhere near as good as his. It was an aspiration of mine to someday surpass his skill in that particular area.

"Huh, what's going on?"

"I can't see, it's too thick!"

"It's the Hidden Mist jutsu, everyone stay quiet!" random voiced from within the mist yelled.

But it was too late. I had already locked onto them. Had they stayed silent they may have had a chance, as I couldn't yet lock onto a target via breathing alone.

I crept up behind them with the stabbing kunai knives that Zabuza favoured, and their souls "passed through this world without even knowing what happened," as Kakashi had once put it. I released the jutsu and searched the bodies. Luckily, they had an Earth scroll. _That was far too easy, _I thought. Suddenly I gasped and hardened my skin just as a giant shuriken struck my ribs. I gasped, a little winded from the impact of the blow. In one fluid motion I melted my second scroll to my back, took my hair out of its ponytail from under my beanie and ran for it. You might be thinking, 'Now why in the hell did you take your hair out? It'll only get in the way.'

And the answer to that is: My hair is impossible to cut (except by diamond) and it took up too much chakra to diamond-ise my skin if I wasn't going to fight.

"Get back here!" a female voice called. _Like hell I'm goin' back there._

"Earth Style: Mud Wall Jutsu!" someone yelled, and then a mud wall shot up in front of me. _Crap! They're using Earth Style, which has the advantage over Water Style, and my Diamond Style is only developed enough for close range combat!_ The smartest thing I could do was run. I concertrated chakra in my feet and scaled the wall effortlessly. Coming up with a plan in the go, I figured that if I could get onto the river then I would be able to do something quick.

Kunai and shuriken flew my way, by my hair deflected the majority of them while I simply dodged the rest.

I skidded onto the safety of the river, keeping myself afloat with a steady stream of chakra. The three ninja who had been following me stopped short of the water line. I learned from their headbands that they were from the village hidden in the stone. Their eyes widened when they saw the mist symbol on my own headband, realising that by not heading me off earlier that had given me the advantage. Though I could probably only get about two powerful jutsu out if I wanted to make it to the tower before night fall. Wanting to end it quickly, I went through a series of handsigns. "Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!"

A wave of water spiralled behind me, then it shot forward, growing steadily larger as it moved away from me and engulfed the Stone ninja and swept them effortlessly through the landscape in a vortex of water. I held my stomach, panting and gasping for air. That was probably the most powerful technique I knew, and it definitely took its toll on my chakra levels. I knew that I wouldn't be able to pull that jutsu off again without collapsing, so I took off on top of the river as fast as I could. Since it was only the first day and still light out, it didn't seem likely that anyone would be too nearby it. Plus it went directly past the tower I was supposed to get to.

-YYY- _Fast Forward to about 4 pm._

I finally made it! After opening the scroll and some random Chunin named Kotetsu explained to me what was happening, I realised that I had to fill in 4 days. I wandered around for a bit until I found the only occupied room in the whole tower.

"Hey Gin! You sure got here early!" Kankuro said with a mixture of happiness and surprise.

"Haha, yeah. I just couldn't' bear the thought of being away from my BFFs for too long," I said sarcastically, although I think the humour didn't get across properly because I was so tired. "I think I might have done something wrong, though. I got here without a team and it's only day 1."

"Don't worry about it, we've been here for hours," the Kankuro said.

"Oh, well that's… I don't know. Awesome?"

"Not really. It's pretty lonely, since there's no one else here yet."

"Nice. Where's Temari and Gaara?" I inquired.

"I'm right here," Temari said, entering the room via another door. "Nice hat, by the way." I dropped my gaze and self-consciously tugged on the ear-flaps of my beanie.

"Aww, isn't she cute?" Temari cooed. I couldn't help it, I smiled.

"I'm not cute, I'm evil," I corrected in my best 'evil' voice and expression.

"Sure you are," Kankuro laughed. I glared at them. I didn't like the way he said that.

"I detect sarcasm, Mr 'I-Have-Cat-Ears-On-My-Hat'," I shot harshly.

"Wow there, no need to get angry, Gin," Kankuro said and he raised his arms in a defeated manner. But he was still smirking so it was hard to take him seriously.

"I have been offended. I am going to find better friends and I will not return until I find some. Or until I can't find anyone," I said in an uncharacteristically cold voice. I turned and left before they could get another word in because I was angry and them. Only a little bit though. But angry all the same…

I worked my way to the roof (I don't know what sort of friends I thought I'd make up there) and I found Gaara sitting there, all by himself.

"Hello Gaara!" I said cheerfully. Gaara didn't do anything, he just kept staring ahead, as though he hadn't heard a word I had just said.

"Uh… have you been having a good day?"

Nothing.

Generally, I would take this as my cue to either leave or insult someone. But as my pride was still raw from being attacked by Kankuro and Temari (or so I believed at the time), being so blatantly ignored hurt a little more than it usually did.

"…Would you like some Pocky?" I asked, my voice quieter now than it had been.

Suddenly sand flew from the gourd on Gaara's back and curled its way around my body like a blanket. I didn't really know what was supposed to happen, but I had a fairly good idea. Instead of just hardening my skin, I diamond-plated that stuff. My diamond-plate armour is different to my regular hardening of the skin in that it is pretty much even more indestructible than regular diamonds because it is chakra enforced. Also the light hits my skin differently when I diamond-plated it, making me look paler and a little transparent.

Death by sand was not really how I wanted to end my life.

Gaara stood up and turned around, now definitely facing me with a deathly glare.

Just quietly, I think I preferred being ignored.

"Why aren't you afraid?" He asked coldy. _I am afraid, Gaara, I just don't want to make you feel bad by letting you know,_ was my excuse. But then I tried to explain, no words came out. Why wouldn't any words come out? Was the sand strangulating my voice? God sand **do** that? _No_, I told myself_, the sand can't hurt me when I have my armour on… or at least, I really, really, hope it can't._ Finally I got my words to work, but they didn't say what I wanted them to.

"Because I am stronger than my fear," I said weakly, struggling for breath.

Okay, as true as that might have been, that wasn't what I had wanted to say, nor was it a particularly intelligent thing to say. What in the hell made me say that? Was I possessed again by that strange, little demon that apparently lived inside me and made me put a spoon in my kunai holster? Despite all the crap I'm dribbling right now, I think I truly was scared, no matter what the demon said. The sand gripped me tighter, but there wasn't any pain, thanks to my armour. Then the grains subsided, flowing back into the gourd.

"We'll see," was all he said. I was out of that place faster than Haku could chase a rabbit, I tell you.

I threw myself into the room where Temari and Kankuro currently occupied.

"I think Gaara is going to try and kill me," I said in between gasps. The siblings looked nervously at one another and then back at me.

"We're sorry Gin, but we can't push our luck. It's a miracle that _we've _survived this long," Temari explained sadly. I looked sadly at the ground. So he **was** serious about trying to kill me. But why? Even the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist (or at least, the one's I'd met) hadn't been like this, and let me tell you, they weren't exactly the most cheerful flowers in the garden.

"It's okay, I don't think that he could kill me anyway. His sand techniques are weak to water ones, right? And I specialise in Water Style Jutsus," I said, perhaps only to try and convince myself I had more than one line of defence.

"Oh, yeah, sure," they said half-heartedly, not entirely convinced.

I resolved that if Gaara was going to go out of his way to try and kill me, then I'd go out of _my_ way to make every step troublesome, down to the very last twitch of the muscle.

I was going to attempt to befriend Gaara of the Desert.

**Nyah Nyah Nyah. If you wanted to know, this chapter is a whole 200 words longer than the last one. Actually, it probably isn't, if you take into account all the crap I dribbled at the top... anyways... looks as though I may have to leak about 100 words of the 2****nd**** stage into the next chapter. This makes me sad.**

**Perhaps some reviews will cheer me up? *Looks at readers with a begging face*.**

**Thank God you can't see my begging face, as I fail miserably at it. **


	4. Robot Boy

**Sorry this chapter took so long to come out! There was some kind of connection error and I really don't know much about technology... at all... so I had to chill (freak out) until it fixed itself. Again: I'M SO SORRY! :(**

**I must warn you! Gaara will be a little OC *cough cough probably a lot OC cough*. This is because if he was in character almost every scenario I could think of involving Gaara and Gin at the same time would end in Gin being sand-coffined. And subsequently dead.**

**Thanks very a lot to my reviewers who reviewed last chapter: Angelfang (3 there is supposed to be a heart in here but just incase it doesn't show up, /heart/), glitterthorn (let's face it, **_**anything**_** Gaara does is love-worthy :D ), and Pandora's Little Box. Me love you all ^.^**

**Chapter 4: Robot Boy by Linkin Park**

**Once again, if want a specific song to be the title of the next chapter just put it in a review/comment…**

_The ones who are hardest to love are usually the ones who need it the most._

"… I don't want to do this tournament thing," I said uneasily. Something wasn't sitting right with me. I'd been feeling a little… on edge since about half way through the second test. It felt like I was a puppet, playing right in the palm of someone's hands.

Not the most joyous of feelings, I can assure you.

"Gin, if you're afraid and wanna pull out, then we won't judge you… much," Kankuro 'comforted'. Temari laughed at me.

"I'm not afr- Aw come on Gaara even you? Well that's just depressing," I sulked. Because sure enough, Gaara was smirking at me.

"No, seriously! We won't hate you. You'll probably just have to go in a hole and die though," Kankuro continued.

"That's where most people end up anyway," I said morbidly. Thereby ending the conversation.

The proctor, Hayate Sensei, stood in the middle of the battle area. He explained to us that names would be selected at random and those people would battle each other until there was a clear winner.

I barely noticed when Sasuke's fight was over. I was feeling strangely sick. It made me want to curl up and sleep. Even worse than that, the sickness made me want to run. Run and hide. I didn't know why.

"Gin, you're up," Temari said, grabbing my attention.

"huh?" I said, confused. I looked at the billboard thing. **(A/N: Let us just pretend that Kabuto didn't pull out…)**

_Kabuto Yakushi_

_Vs._

_Gin Momochi_

"Oh, yeah. Thanks." I jumped into the arena and took in the appearance of my opponent. Kabuto Yakushi. It felt like I should know him, only I'm pretty sure I've never seen him in my life up until the Chunin Exams.

People gossiped around us, worried about how someone my size would stand a chance against Kabuto. He was quite a bit taller than me, you know.

"Well, if you're both ready…" began Hayate. Before anything else could be said Kabuto threw a handful of kunai at me. Unprepared, I threw senbon into their paths, successfully deflecting them. Kabuto looked disappointed, and that wasn't terribly out of the ordinary, but it was a little different; as though I had done something wrong.

I didn't have time to be concerned about that though, because he charged at me. Wishing to save my water style jutsus for the next round, I pulled my hair from its tie and took a defensive position. Kabuto's fist connected with my cheek and I played along, for a moment. My head snapped sideways and my face adopted the appropriate pained expression. Then I smirked.

"How many fingers did you break? One? Or two?" I asked mockingly. Sure enough, Kabuto's face screwed up in pain and he took his hand back. His other hand came at my stomach, but it never connected. My hair shot forth and wrapped itself around my opponent's on coming fist. The people from above gasped. Even Hayate Sensei couldn't hide his surprise.

Kabuto, on the other hand, looked as though all his birthdays had come at once. Freaked out, I attempted to jump back, but he gripped my hair and tugged it. I was pulled forwards, stumbling in my resistance. _What did Zabuza say to do when this happened? Oh yeah_. I threw myself at the grey haired teen, effectively spear tackling him.

I turned my hand into a diamond spike but before I could use it there was a searing pain in the small of my back. Kabuto let go of my hair and I fell to the ground. I moved my legs to get up, but I didn't go anywhere. Frustrated I turned around to see what the problem was. There didn't appear to be anything wrong. I tried to move my legs again, but they didn't respond. It was queer… it _felt_ like they were moving… _Oh hell, no way, please no, please be wrong!_ I poked one of my legs with my spike. I even drew blood. But I couldn't feel it.

"What did you do?" I screamed at Kabuto. "Why won't my legs move, why can't I feel them?"

Kabuto lifted his un-broken hand, which was glowing blue with chakra.

"It seems as though that skin of yours _can_ be penetrated. I used my chakra scalpel to cut off some of the nerves in your back, which means that you won't be using your legs for quite a while," the Leaf-nin explained with a certain air of smugness.

He paralysed me.

…

Could he really have done that?

Kabuto ran at me and kicked me in the side, sending me flying. I hit a wall and cried out in pain. I fell like a rag doll in an oddly shaped heap on the ground.

_No… this loser won't take me down… I was trained by the Demon of the Mist!_

I dragged myself over to the wall I had hit and propped myself up against it, using diamonds to attach myself to it. I activated my diamond plate armour.

"I'm sure everyone else will understand if you forfeit. I don't think they'll hold it against you," Kabuto said in a mockingly superior tone. I met his eyes with my own and glared.

"Perhaps… you are right. Maybe they wouldn't hold it against me…"

The grey-haired teen smiled wider.

"But I'd never be able to forgive myself for giving up just 'cause things got a little tough! If I quit every time things looked bad, or someone said I'd never make it I'd still be living on the streets of the Village Hidden in the Mist!"

I raised my arm and made a hand seal with my other hand, creating the Hidden Mist Jutsu. I made the mist as thick as I could, very nearly reaching my limits. I shut my eyes and strained my ears, trying to catch even a breath of my opponent.

At first there was nothing.

_There it is!_ Suddenly I jerked my head up. A slight shuffling noise exactly 6 meters in front of me.

_Found you!_ I thought victoriously. I fired are wave of diamond senbon from my hands, making a dull thudding noise as they found their target. I dissipated the jutsu and the air became clear again. Kabuto was kneeling, his hands grasping at the many small projectiles that had entered his body. Blood dripped and pooled around him. Three more diamond senbon formed in my hand and I smirked.

"You took away my legs, so I took away your sight. I've trained for over half my life to navigate by sound alone, so you didn't stand a chance in that jutsu," I said with a smirk. I almost casually tossed the senbon, each hitting a different nerve. He fell unconscious pretty quickly after that.

…

"The winner of the second match is Gin Momochi."

There weren't any cheers.

Medical ninja rushed at me with a stretcher and gently placed me onto it. I tried to sit up, but apparently becoming paraplegic really takes it out of you. On the way out of the arena I wearily managed to catch someone's eye. Gaara. To my shock, he was looking at me with what one could almost call concern… I smiled feebly and mouthed the words 'good luck'. His eyes widened and he nodded slightly. My eyes closed and I slipped into sleep.

-YYY-

"Can you do it, Arata?"

"Yes. But it will take time. She may not be able to make the final test," said a voice that was cool and calm. Professional.

"She's not even part of the Leaf Village, why not focus our efforts on Rock Lee and the others instead of wasting time on this brat?"

"Shh, what if she can hear you?" Someone whisper-yelled.

"Oh come on, she's been out for two days."

"Silence, both of you! She is a participant in the Chunin Exams, just like the others, and it is our job to see that she is healed!" snapped the cool voice, Atara.

I listened in silently on the conversation. It hurt, hearing that people didn't think I was worth the effort of healing. I decided to try and stop listening, for my own sake.

I realised that I was lying on my stomach and my hair was lying mostly on the left side of the bed. My regular shirt, vest and trousers had been replaced with hospital pyjamas and my shoes were on the floor by my bed. My shirt was partially pulled up, leaving the lower part of my back exposed. Someone had bandaged it. Had I really been out for two days? _How had the other fights gone?_ I wondered. I lifted my head slightly and noticed that other than the medic nin, there was no one else in the room. I laid my head back down on the sterile-smelling hospital pillow just as one of the medics approached me. Hands were pressed against the small of my back and they felt warm. I wondered what was happening.

"It's okay, Gin. You'll be able to walk once all your nerves are stitched back together," Arata said comfortingly. Ah, that must have been it. He was healing me. After 5 minutes of the warmness the medical ninja left. I wish they hadn't. I didn't like the silence. I guess it sort of reminded me that I had nothing. _Okay, let's not go into those depressing thoughts again, _I scolded myself.

As I wallowed in self-pity, another presence entered the room. I assumed it was another medic nin, so I continued to 'sleep'. But whoever it was didn't use and healing jutsu on me, or check my blood pressure or whatever the hell else medic nin are supposed to do. The person just stood by my bed. Had my eyes been open they would have stood directly in my line of vision. Then an unexpected voice broke the silence.

"I will kill you," Gaara said. His voice was cold, but it also seemed to be uncertain, as if he wasn't so sure of what he wanted to do anymore. I blearily attempted to open my eyes buy by the time I had succeeded he was gone.

-YYY- _Day 3 of Hospitalisation._ -YYY-

I had stopped pretending to be asleep at around 10 am mostly because I wanted to have some kind of communications with other human beings.

Even if the only people who communicated with me were the medic nins and all I did was annoy them…

Fun is fun, after all. Arata visited once every 3 hours to heal my back. He said with a smile that there was a definite improvement. I wasn't allowed to move off my stomach though, so that was pretty much making the whole scenario the most uncomfortable of my life. I stared at the clock on my bedside table. _2:00 pm_. Was it seriously only _2:00 PM_? Oh well, my hourly entertainment should be arriving any minute…

I saw him walking past the open door of my ward.

_Let me see your un-tanned body… _on cue, Trippy-guy tripped over the sticking up tile outside of my room. _Ah; there it is_.

Now let me explain to you about Trippy-guy. Not that there is a lot to explain. Basically Trippy-guy is a guy who walks past my ward once every hour and _always_ trips over the sticking up tile. _ALWAYS._ It never fails. _Oh God, do you see how low I have sunken?_

…

_That is it, I am escaping and finding the Sand Siblings if it kills me_.

I dragged myself into the wheelchair beside my bed (having to sit on the majority of my hair) and rolled off.

On account of my wicked awesome ninja skills I was able to escape the hospital without anyone giving me trouble.

…It was in no way due to the fact that nobody cared what I did apart from Arata…

You wouldn't believe how much fun it is to go down slopes in a wheelchair.

I rolled myself to the only training ground with sand in it and hoped that the victims of my hunt were present. By some odd coincidence they were.

"Gin! I didn't know you were allowed out of the hospital today," Kankuro greeted with a wave. Temari turned around and smiled at me.

"Hello Gin." Gaara did nothing.

"Hello Kankuro and Temari. Hello to you too, Gaara," I said with a smile. I wheeled myself over to the trio. "Did you all pass the preliminaries?"

"Yeah, even Kankuro, believe it or not," Temari said cheerfully.

"Hey!"

Kankuro was ignored.

"And I'm not actually supposed to be out of the hospital right now. I just escaped because I didn't like it in there."

"So… what actually happened?" Kankuro asked concernedly. I knew he was talking about me legs.

"Kabuto severed some of the nerves in my back. It left me paralysed, but my medic, Arata, says that there's a good chance I'll be better and able to compete in the finals!" I explained hopefully. "Uhh… do you guys know who I'm fighting?"

"Some guy from the Sound named Dosu."

"Fair enough then. What about you guys?"

"I'm going to be fighting that Nara kid. I think Kankuro's supposed to fight a kid named Shino. Gaara's fighting Uchiha," Temari answered. I stared at them, sizing up their chances.

"…Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but Temari and Kankuro, I think you're screwed," I said bluntly.

"WHAT?" was the simultaneous reaction.

"Oh god you took it the wrong way," I said panicked. "If it makes things any better I believe that Gaara may actually quite possibly stand a chance?"

Okay that time Gaara smiled. I swear it on my non-functioning legs.

Temari and Kankuro, however, had some very different reactions.

"Why would you _say _that, Gin?" Kankuro asked in a betrayed sort of way.

"Well, for starters, I've never really been one for 'tact'. It's basically just saying a bunch of stuff that isn't true. For seconders, Shikamaru is the most genius person I have _ever_ met and for thirders, Shino basically has a small army at his disposal," I said helpfully. I was rewarded with glares.

"And Gaara could actually possibly win because Sasuke can't copy his sand techniques, I don't think. And Gaara's pretty brutal. And relentless. And merciless." Then I noticed the cork in the gourd becoming sand. "And that was the summarised list of 'Things That Make Gaara a Good Shinobi'," I added, trying to save myself. Luckily it seemed to do the trick because the sand became a cork again, and I was still alive.

'Nice save,' Kankuro mouthed, making sure Gaara couldn't see it. I grinned.

"As interesting as this had been, I think I'd better head back to the hospital. It's nearly time for Arata to heal me. But feel free to visit. Nobody else does."

With that I spun my chair around. "Goodbye," I called chirpily over my shoulder.

"G'bye, Gin!" Temari and Kankuro replied. I began the lonely roll back to the hospital.

I was halfway to the hospital when I someone was suddenly beside me. I looked right, startled.

"Kankuro," Gaara said flatly. _Oh, that explains everything, that right there._ Unwilling, to push my luck I nodded and smiled shakily. Admittedly, Kankuro could be mean sometimes. But then I was mean most of the time, so there you go.

I stopped rolling my wheelchair, just for a moment. I needed to rest. The medics had given me some form of medication that would make me more 'comfortable', but apparently that's just medical ninja talk for making me tired as all hell. Plus my stamina had never _really_ been awesome to begin with. I rubbed my eyes to get the sleep out of them. All of the sudden, my wheelchair was being pushed forwards. Looking up I saw Gaara.

Pushing my wheelchair.

I don't know _what _those crazy medic ninjas put me on, but I swear when I find out… I don't think I'm really going anywhere with this sentence.

I just stared at him, wide eyed. The only other person who would do that for me was...

"Thank you, Gaara," I said quietly.

"Hn."

I smiled at him, genuinely happy.

-YYY-

**And we reach the end of today's chapter. I'm not very happy with my writing skills in this story, but you know what? I'm gonna keep writing. **

**But… the reviews… they make me happy?**

**Okay, put it this way. You can review, or I can stab you in the jugular with a freshly sliced orange peel.**

**ALSO: Do I need to put disclaimers at the start that say I don't own Naruto and stuff? Because if we do, I'm screwed. Coz I haven't been.**


	5. AN, Makes Me Sad

**Author's Note**

**Dear people who put this story or myself onto an alert thing (Or people who like this story and are super keen for the next chapter),  
If you're anything like me, then fight now you're probably a bit like "HELL YES AN UPDATE OHMGEE THIS BETTER THAN FIRE!"**

…**Actually, you're probably not like that at all.**

**This is not a chapter, and you've not idea how it pains me to stick a knife right into your possible happiness and excitement. I'm not entirely sure what this is myself, but as I am currently full of doubt and uncertainty about my story, I've decided to call it 'Story Puberty'. **

**I got like, half-way through writing chapter 5 for this, and then I read it and it was super crap. After that devastating blow, I eventually forgot the plot I had planned and imagined every other thing that **_**could **_**happen and now I have no idea at all what the best course action would be. And then my short attention span kicked in, and I lost interest in Naruto for a while. I read Bleach, -Man (I am in love with Lavi), and watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and THEY ARE AWESOME! But that's getting a bit off topic.**

**Now I'm even considering doing like a total re-write of the whole story. I'd planned on keeping some stuff the same 'cause I liked it, but it'd not be very much the same.**

**All this crap and I'm only 4 chapters in? Just burn me. Just do it.**

**So I'm leaving the decision largely to you guys. Review or PM me what you think I should do. Ideas / opinions on the re-write thing? Do you think I should just man the F%^# up and continue? Even if you wanna **_**buddy write**_** it with me, I just wanna do something T.T  
Actually, the buddy-writing thing's not a bad idea, self. I have no idea why I thought I could do something of this magnitude on my own. I've never done anything to suggest that I could.**

**You guys have been AWESOME, and I feel bad for leaving you hanging.**

**Squirrel, out.**

**P.S Lavi is awesome.**


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